Southern Maryland House Prices Gain While Market Continues Inventory Struggle

HUGHESVILLE, Md. –– Although transaction volume remained low, several positive trends emerged across the Southern Maryland housing market last month. 

According to the most recent data from the Southern Maryland Association of REALTORS®, home values saw year-over-year gains while other market shifts became less substantial. 

Both average and median sold prices across the region saw gains, up 4.4% and 4.88%, respectively. This comes off several months of more marginal gains or in some cases, even declines in some local jurisdictions. 

Still concerning, however, there are fewer homes on the market and fewer new listings coming onto the market than at this point in 2022. Active listings are down roughly 16.85% from last year, and new listings are down a staggering 22.61% from last year. New pending sales saw a decline of 8.5%, which indicates a clear slowdown in the market. 

“Inventory continues to be a struggle in our market, and we are not expecting that problem to fix itself overnight. However, we need to ensure we are working to find innovative solutions to the problem,” SMAR 2022-2023 President Michael Funk said. “A continued decline in market activity is another concern for the economy as we start moving out of the typically heightened summer market.” 

Another key trend that continued from last month is that fewer homes are selling, and those that are, stay on the market longer. The number of units sold last month saw a year-over-year decline of 11.21%. Homes stayed on the market for an average of 22 days, however, most homes sold in 10 days or less. 

Indicating sellers regaining additional control of transactions, we saw a slight increase in the average sold price to original list price ratio. A 0.31% year-over-year increase brings the ratio to 99.5%, meaning sellers are getting closer to 100% of their original list price when their homes sell. 

Those facts, coupled with increasing mortgage rates, continue to squeeze homebuyers in the market. 

“While home sellers have been reaping the benefits of our current market, buyers have been struggling to catch a break,” Funk said. “With mortgage rates higher than we have seen in a few years, and home values at historic highs, buyers are struggling to re-enter the market now. Then to top it off, when buyers start looking now, they don’t have many options to choose from.” 

Visit https://www.southernmarylandrealtors.org/pages/housing-statistics/ every month for additional details about the housing market in Southern Maryland. A video breakdown of the local statistics for the month can be found on the SMAR YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfYD_8jARsQ 

Statistics for this article were compiled with cooperation from Bright MLS, a leading housing market data source and a real estate listing service for Realtors® throughout the region.